The generation of "Baby Boomers" that came up during the 50s and 60s will forever be remembered as the "Enlightened Generation." We were special. The world had never seen anything like us before, and for the most part, the nation still reflects just how special we were. We were just idealistic kids, but we got it right. We embraced knowledge, educated ourselves, and then demanded that this nation adhere to the values that it professed to hold dear. Even this nation’s founding fathers found it expedient to comprise some of their values, but we didn’t compromise even one, and the fact that this nation elected its first Black president on our watch - a mere fifty years after Black people were being attacked by police dogs for exercising the simple right to sit at public lunch counters - will forever stand as a monument to the astounding impact that we’ve had on this nation. But we got yet one more task to perform before we move on. While we're still around, we’ve GOT to educate the young people of this nation to begin to follow in our footsteps.
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As we’ve aged, our numbers have began to diminish, so the nation, and the world, have started to backslide - and it didn’t happen spontaneously. It was a planned and orchestrated attack against everything we represent. It started nearly 35 years ago under the Reagan administration. First they began to attack public information by abolishing the "Fairness Doctrine." The Fairness Doctrine provided that if any television or radio station in America broadcasted a purely partisan perspective on a public issue, they had to provide equal time to the opposing point of view.
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The doctrine’s purpose was first, to keep the American people informed, and secondly, to prevent the demagoguery that we see today on Fox News, and it served its purpose well. It provided endless public debate on every public issue, and that, in turn, served to keep the nation informed of every side of every issue. In addition, a person like Rush Limbaugh couldn’t have existed under the Fairness Doctrine, at least, not unless he had a liberal sitting right next to him who could challenge every lie he told. But some stations found that too combative, so they simply gave a liberal a show with equal time that immediately followed shows like Rush Limbaugh's.
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But conservatives found that when the people were informed of the facts, the conservative point of view always fell short. That’s why it was so important to them to abolish the doctrine, so they could spew their lies and propaganda with impunity. Then after they successfully got the doctrine abolished, conservative-leaning corporations began to buy up all the media outlets across the country, effectively shutting out the liberal perspective from the American people. It got so bad under George W. Bush that only conservative commentators were being broadcasted to the troops in Iraq. I tried to take up the slack by communicating with the troops online, and I had quite a following. But after a while, a military commander contacted me and politely asked me to cease and desist. He said that I was hurting moral. I found that to be both a profoundly significant, and an extremely telling point of view. If truth hurt moral, what did that say about the mission?
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After the conservatives effectively blocked the liberal perspective from the airways, they then turned to our educational system. They used tax laws and various other measures to attack and defund our educational system in order to ensure that the generations that followed the Baby Boomers didn’t have the educational background to become independent and critical thinkers. As a direct result of the machinations of this Corporate/GOP alliance, today many people with college degrees lack much of the knowledge that the enlighten generation was armed with when they entered high school. That’s why it’s routine to hear the Republican base make statements like, "Barack Obama is un-American - he’s involved in a socialist plot to insure my family against catastrophic illness." Many in the Republican base actually accept such gross stupidity as logically valid. Personally, I find the fact that people’s minds can be manipulated to that level of stupidity kind of scary.
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Thus, the brutal attack that's currently being waged by conservatives on the nation's educational system that's been ongoing for the passed thirty years, is in direct response to what the enlightened generation was, and who we remain to be.
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We hold the distinction of bringing America closer to what it professes to be than any generation in the history of this country. So we, as a generation, possess the quality of intellect that rabid conservatives are doing their very best to ensure never arises again. We are a direct threat to their agenda to convert America from being a democratic republic, to becoming a corporate feudalist state, where they can lower the standard of living of the American middle class to one that conforms more closely to the global economy, where in many countries, workers make less per week, than many American workers spend on lunch per day.
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And they’re coming very close to achieving that goal. A Princeton University study has declared that the United States is no longer a democratic republic; we’re now an oligarchy that’s controlled by the rich. The top 5% of the nation now control 72% of the wealth, and the bottom 80% of Americans only control 7% of the wealth. This has come about just since the Reagan administration. But consider this. Once the bottom 80% of Americans only control 5%, then 3%, and then later, none of the nation’s wealth, our children - both Black and White - for all intent and purposes, will be slaves. Thus, this is no longer a struggle about merely race - race is now only used to keep the poor and middle class divided. We are now knee deep in a CLASS struggle, and it’s the most dangerous threat to the American way of life that the nation has EVER faced.
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So as Baby Boomers, this nation’s enlighten generation, we have yet one more task to perform for this nation. We must do our best to see to it that our legacy lives on. It is essential that when we leave this Earth, that we leave our spirit behind - we owe it to the nation, we owe it to our children, and we owe it to our passionate brothers and sisters who are now in the wind. That is my life’s mission, and that should be the mission of ALL of us who are still around. We must muster the strength to come together for one final rally against those who are out to destroy our children’s way of life.
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America may not have always lived up to its ideals, but what made it special was it had ideals. That’s what made a generation like ours possible. But that’s no longer the case. Radical conservatives have changed that. At one time Americans could look forward with optimism, but not now - they’ve changed America into an ugly, evil, and dark place of mass suffering (when was the last time you saw a conservative who wasn't mean and hateful - in spite, of their professed Christian values). At one time politicians of different political persuasions could work together to further the interest of the American people, but not now - radical conservatives routinely hold the American people hostage in order to promote their malevolent agenda, and will vote any one of their number out of office who wants to act responsibly on behalf of the people. At one time politicians sought to inspire, but not now - conservatives seek to anger, and turn one American against another. That’s the only way that they can survive, because their agenda is so toxic to the American way of life that they have to appeal to the very worst in the nature of humanity in order to generate enough hatred between one American and another to get them to vote against their own interest.
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So America needs us more than ever. We may no longer have the vigor that we once had, but we still have the passion, and not only that, we possess the most potent weapon that the domestic enemies of America will ever face - knowledge. We are the most knowledgeable people in America, so as we prepare to leave the stage, let us remind these chumps what we’re made of, and let our final encore be one of love for our children and grand children. Instead of simply saying good night, let us leave them with the gift of love, happiness, and the kind of security that we enjoyed.
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So as we prepare to make our final exit, let us come together one last time and tell our children, "Don’t worry, babies, We got this!" And after we’ve defeated these scoundrels, and as we walk out the door after our final curtain, let us not forget to leave a message for history . . . "All You Need is Love." Only then, will we be free to join our brothers and sisters in the mist, with our heads held high.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Any objective assessment of the Black community’s current predicament will clearly show that Black suffering is a direct result of two things: First, many of us in the Black community have a pronounced tendency to follow self-serving poverty pimps and fools instead of thinking for ourselves, following truth wherever it leads, and thereafter, addressing the issues that the truth reveals. Instead, we’d rather stick our heads in a comfortable patch of sand and pay a poverty pimp to tell us what we want to hear. Secondly, we’re more interested in appearances than reality. We’ll go absolutely broke to make it LOOK like we’re living high on the hog instead of living more modestly and investing our time, money, and resources into actually obtaining the lifestyle that we’re willing to go broke to pretend to already have. So the bottom line is, many of us are broke and suffering because we refuse to face up to, and address our shortcomings, and we also insist on living a lie (Of course, Black people aren't the only ones who suffer from these dysfunctions, but it is the Black community that's being addressed here).
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A perfect example of the first dysfunction is, many of us literally worship people like Cornel West. Then if you ask them what is it about West that they most admire, they’ll say something like, "He speaks the truth." But if you continue to question them it becomes abundantly clear that they not only don’t know the truth, but even worse, they can't recognize a glaring lie when they hear one (much like the Fox News crowd). In addition, they know absolutely nothing about Cornel West other than what they've HEARD. So the fact is, they ACTUALLY admire West because he tells them what they want to hear, and what brings them comfort. But chasing emotional comfort rarely brings about an improvement in one’s life. In fact, more often than not, all it does provide is a convenient excuse for failure.
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They're not getting the truth because the fact is, people like Cornel West can’t afford to tell them the truth. The reason for that is, if he spoke the unfettered truth West would have to admit that he himself is more than a little responsible for the Black community’s current suffering. He'd have to reveal that George W. Bush won the 2000 election by winning Florida by a mere 537 votes as a direct result of the Ralph Nader/Cornel West coalition taking away 97,488 Democratic-leaning votes. So in essence, Nader and West did more to elect George W. Bush President of the United States than the Republican Party. But of course, Cornel West defenders will claim, "No, the Supreme Court helped Bush STEAL the election." But the fact is, if it wasn’t for the 97,488 Democratic-leaning votes that the Nader/West coalition took away, the election wouldn’t have been close enough to even go before the Supreme Court. Thus, Nader and West were ESSENTIAL to Bush’s election.
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Thus, Cornel West is much more than a little responsible for the Black community’s current plight, and contrary to West’s mantra-like contention that Obama’s not doing enough for the Black community, the fact is, if it were not for Barack Obama, the community would be in much worse shape, because America, and the world, would currently be in the midst of a second Great Depression. Obama critics rarely stop to think about that, nor do they consider the impact of GOP obstructionism. All they think about is times are tough, and Barack Obama is President.
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Yes, times are tough, but we're very lucky that Obama is President, because they could've been a lot tougher. When Barack Obama took office this country was hemorrhaging 500,000 jobs A MONTH, and due to the gross irresponsibility of GOP obstructionism, he had to save this nation nearly single handedly. That's why we watched a young man grow grey before our eyes. And the irony is, many of the rabid middle-class conservatives who are calling him a socialist and the worst president in the nation's history, would have neither their jobs, nor their homes today if it weren't for Barack Obama.
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But history will set the record straight, just like it did for another young man when many Black critics of Cornel West's disposition used to call him "Martin Luther Coon." They'll never admit it today, and fortunately for them, they've been obscured by the fog of history. But that won't be the case for people like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. The flawless memory of the internet will allow posterity to pull up their stupidity in living color, and in all it's glory, four hundred years from now, with just the touch of a button.
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Posterity will clearly see that when Cornel West tried to blame President Obama for our current condition, it was the perfect equivalent of his walking into a restaurant, taking a crap in the middle of the floor, and then calling the Health Department because the owner didn’t get it up fast enough. And considering Cornel’s Association with Tavis Smiley - the biggest corporate shill in the Black community - posterity will also see that when Cornel complained about the condition of the poor, it was as disingenuous as a man running down the street ranting about fascism after just having lunch with Mussolini.
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You see, unlike West, posterity will understand that it’s not the President’s job to go from house-to-house handing out gift baskets. His job is to create an environment where we can help ourselves, and that shouldn't be a serious problem in the Black community. African Americans have a documented buying power of $1.1 trillion. That’s equal to the Gross National Product of Germany, the third richest industrial nation in the world. So there is absolutely no reason why we have to wait around for the White man to come and give us a job. Our problem is, we need to start taking care of business, and our failure to do that is not Obama’s fault - it’s OUR fault. Our biggest problem is, many of us are doing more whining than we are thinking. And instead of acting like responsible adults, many in the community are acting like helpless children, waiting for their White daddy to come home and feed them.
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Think about this: "Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days, and White communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at $1.1 trillion, and yet, only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses." That’s why we don’t have jobs. Is that Obama’s fault? I don’t think so. So the fact is, it’s not money that the Black community needs; it’s an education that we’re in most dire need of.
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So contrary to popular belief, critics like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West do both the Black community, and America, a disservice. While they're taking bows for being willing to "speak truth to power," they're doing the complete opposite of what they should be doing. If they were REALLY concerned about the people, they wouldn't be calling the President names, and trying to play "The Dozens" with the President of the United States. They're only doing that to call attention to themselves and their self-serving agendas. If they REALLY cared about the people they would be trying to educate the people to how to best leverage their economic and political clout, and they would be supporting the President and offering CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions in order to help him maintain the political support necessary to get things done. But instead, they're trying to tear him down, which weakens him in his battle against GOP obstructionism. So their behavior suggests one of two things - either they're not very bright, or they're in collusion with the GOP. Whichever is the case, that's bad news for the people.
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One gentleman in the community told me the following:
."All that you stated is all true, but how does it translate POLITICALLY? One can have a lot of consuming power, and that's what you are truly pointing out, but at the end of the day NO TRUE POWER EXIST because WE are dependent on policies created by others to help US. WE ARE NOT SITTING AT THE TABLE; I think that's what’s frustrating. The power of the POTUS becomes beneficial WHEN WE ARE AT THE TABLE. The only way to ensure that is to RAISE HELL, for he alone cannot bring us to the table. Our frustrations and dislikes must be shown and felt in order for any TRUE ADVANCEMENT. Seems that we are going backwards, when it comes to the Civil Rights struggle. Those gains in the past did not take place by having our people sitting on the sideline NOT CRITICIZING what needs to be criticized. OUR president NEEDS US to step up our game, [but] so far whatever it is we are doing IS NOT WORKING. Look at how they are slaughtering us in the streets, STATE SANCTION TERRORISM, with no regards on how upset we get...for we HAVE NO TRUE POLITICAL POWER."
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In response, I pointed out that the world doesn't set a place for you at the table. We have to set our OWN place at the table by getting our OWN affairs in order. The world only allows those at the table who it respects, and it doesn't respect us, because we don't respect ourselves. So we've got to change our cultural mores, begin to recognize who we are, and begin to understand that the adversity that we've endured over the years is a valuable source of unutilized knowledge that makes us MORE rather than less. In addition, we’ve got to learn how to leverage that $1.1 trillion that we have at our command, because the one thing that the White establishment is more enamored with than its passionate romance with racism, is money, and it’s not going to allow $1.1 trillion dollars - again, the gross national product of Germany - to slip through its fingers.
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That brings me to the second dysfunction that the Black community has to overcome, and that’s how we handle our money. Currently, the establishment doesn’t have to acknowledge the Black community, because we fall all over one another to take them every penny we have. But if we were more selective in how, and with whom we spent our money, they’d forget all about racism just to get their hands on it. If, for example, the community organized and decided that we weren’t going to put our money in Wells Fargo Bank, or Bank of America, you can bet that both of those institutions would open up branches in the Black community that would be run, and controlled, by Black people. As a result, when Black businesspeople needed a business loan, they’d be talking to another Black face, which would lead to more loans being approved, and more jobs in the community. And the very same thing would be true of many other national and international franchises coming into the community.
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Then, as a direct result of the improved economic conditions in the community, our young people would see other young adults being hired and prospering in this new economic environment. That would cause them to begin to see the wisdom of staying in school so they too could take advantage of this new prosperity. That, in turn, would lead to the building of new homes in the community, the stabilization of family life, expanded political clout, and a reduction in crime.
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So while peaceful demonstrations do have their place in calling the establishment’s attention to community concerns, we’ll never be able to scream, whine, or beg our way to a better life - and nobody will ever be able to give it to us, because even if they did, we wouldn’t have sense enough to hang on to it. So the only way that we’ll ever acquire, and then hold on to, the kind of life that we aspire to, is through careful thought, planning, responsibility, and above all, education.
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But Cornel won’t ever tell you that, because at $30,000 a speech, he makes a great living on faking compassion over your misery. Oh, how do I know he's faking? That's easy. Has he ever felt enough "compassion," or "love" for the people to teach in a predominately Black school? Not once in his entire career.
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Eric L. Wattree Http://wattree.blogspot.comEwattree@Gmail.comCitizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.Sphere: Related Content

"Yellow journalism is a form of Journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers [or for other self-serving reasons].

Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism.By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.

My immediate reaction was, "Wow! That’s a serious allegation, especially considering both of these gentlemen’s history of steadfast support of the Black community." So I began to research the site. Who are these people who would make such a charge? But I couldn’t find a thing. Most websites with fictitious or anonymous names have an "About" page that will tell you who’s running the site, and their mission, but when I went to this particular site, there was nothing. So I said, lets see who wrote the article. But again, absolutely nothing. The article didn’t have a writer's byline, or the name of anyone who could be held accountable for the charges that were being made. So essentially, these were snipers hiding behind a rock who could say anything they liked, and couldn’t be held accountable.
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But in an attempt to maintain my objectivity, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this was just an oversight, so I went on to read the article anyway - and then they pimped their hand. The article said, "The Christian Science Monitor reported back on November 25th, that local community activists met with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), weeks prior to the Ferguson Grand Jury decision, to discuss how to control the impending protests." Okay, many church and community leaders did that - they’re trying to head off the possibility of Black people being brutalized and killed by overzealous LAPD officers, as has happened in the past. But then, in the very next sentence they said, "Activists Najee Ali and Earl Ofari Hutchinson have been accused of planning with LAPD to embed persons into the protests, who would then tip off the LAPD." So the obvious question is, WHO accused Ali and Hutchinson of conspiring with the LAPD? The name of the person, or persons, who made the accusation should be conspicuously displayed in the article, since a basic tenet of good journalism is to provide the reader with "who, what, when, where, and why." But the article never did say.
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But in spite of their sloppy journalism, I went a step further, and went directly to the Christian Science Monitor article that they referenced - which took a little work, since 2UrbanGirls failed to provide a link. But once I managed to get there, I didn’t find one thing, or one person, accusing either Najee Ali, or Earl Ofari Hutchinson of conspiring with the LAPD.
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So who are these people who have gone to such lengths to conceal their identity? Just because they have the word "Urban" in their name tells us absolutely nothing about their agenda - in fact, it doesn’t even mean that they’re Black. They may be a group financed by the Koch Brothers, or an arm of The Conservative Consortium For The Division And Denigration Of Black People for all we know. So we should use this as a teaching moment for the Black community - just because it’s in print, doesn’t mean it’s true. We're played like that ALL the time. There was one guy online a couple of years ago who used the screen name "Bro Man," and it turned out that he was a barefoot redneck.
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But unfortunately, in many cases, it doesn’t have to be conservative White people trying to con us. We have hordes of Willie Lynch-type Black people among us who are ALWAYS willing to lend the enemies of the Black community a helping hand - and we must ALWAYS be vigilant with respect to such people, because they are the most insidious of all. We can see the White man coming, but we can’t see them, because they’re already among us - they’re like a thief in the night. It was people like them who brought down the Civil Rights movement of the sixties - and killed Malcolm.
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During the 1960s J. Edgar Hoover disrupted the Civil Rights movement by using provocateurs to infiltrate the various civil rights groups and disrupt their activities. The operation was called "Cointelpro." One tactic that was used was to have loud and disruptive Judas goat "super-militants" join the groups and divide the membership by accusing the groups' leadership of being weak, or "Uncle Toms." When I read the 2UrbanGirls article Cointelpro immediately came to mind.
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But, unlike them, I’m not going to accuse them of having that motive for two reasons - first, I try to be a good journalist, so I don’t make accusation that I can’t back up with facts; and secondly, I recognize that there’s a third group among us who mean well, but who are just ignorant. The primary intent of this third group is just like the rest of us, to promote the interest of the Black community. But the problem is, they’re so ignorant that they don’t realize that everybody who don’t think just like they do are not the enemy, so, good intentions not withstanding, they end up hurting the community by stirring division.
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Cornel West, Najee Ali, Tavis Smiley

With regard to Najee Ali (the Los Angeles representative of Al Sharpton's "National Action Network") and Earl Ofari Hutchinson, I have unwavering faith in both of these brothers - and with good reason. I believe what makes me an effective journalist is my cynicism - I don’t trust nobody - if my son came to town, but looked a little too thin, I'd want to see some I.D. before I let him in the house. But these two brothers are rare exceptions to my innate distrust of others. If Najee Ali was out to feather his own nest, he had the connections, and the opportunity, to do just that. When he started reading what I've written about Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, he contacted me and seriously questioned what I was saying - until he reviewed the facts. Thereafter, he had a choice - he could have either cuddled up to Tavis Smiley and benefit from the media exposure that Smiley could provide him (like Cornel West) or he could put his own interest aside and work to promote the best interest of the people. Najee didn’t even hesitate to think about it. He spun on a dime and immediately began organizing demonstrations against Smiley - and this was prior to Cornel West's criticism of Al Sharpton. In fact, it might have led to it. Considering his previous admiration for Tavis Smiley and Cornel West - and the fact that at the time, he didn't know me at all - I couldn't believe how swiftly he swung into action. Even though he didn't know me from Adam, and I couldn't do a thing for him, he saw that I was armed with irrefutable facts. After reviewing those facts, Najee became outraged, and he was on it within a week. That's the kind of selfless commitment we need in the Black community.
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And Earl Ofari Hutchinson has been a solid rock of good, common sense in this community for decades, and his father, Earl Hutchinson, Sr., worked tirelessly on behalf of the community before him (A Colored Man's Journey Through 20th Century Segregated America). I’m a lifelong musician and grew up fully expecting to spend my life following in the footsteps of Dexter Gordon. I was so in love with his horn that when I was a youngster many of my friends CALLED me Dex. I was GROOMED to be a jazz musician. My father thought the only reason the Sun came up was to keep Charlie Parker's reeds warm, so he put a horn in my hands as soon as I was tall enough where the horn didn't scape the ground, and then he moved a homeless dope fiend in the back house to teach me to play it (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2014/01/one-for-jimmy.html). But I was also drawn to people who had the eloquence of pen to speak to the suffering within our community. Earl Ofari Hutchinson was one of those people. I didn’t always agree with the way he connected the dots (but then, I’m so arrogant that I don’t always agree with anybody), but I did always agree with, and admire, his intelligence, integrity, commitment, and eloquence. As a result, he’s one of the primary reasons I’m a writer today. The very first article I ever had published, was based on an article written by Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
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So I have every reason in the world to have unwavering faith in both these gentlemen. Actually, it's a misnomer to even call it faith. My attitude toward these two men is based upon a direct and personal knowledge of their character. I'm not one to go by what I "feel"; I base my assessments on FACTS. And I never base assessments on what a person says; I watch what they DO, and both of these men have done enough in my eyes where I would trust the well being of my family in their hands with complete confidence. On the other hand, with respect to the journalism that I’ve seen displayed in 2UrbanGirls (whoever they are), I don’t have any faith in them at all - because I remember the sixties, so I’ve been there, and done that.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

In order For America to Thrive, It Must Invest In Its Future, Not Kill It
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We’ve got to wage a fierce battle against the ugliness in this world, but we must resist the urge to profile and become ugly ourselves. This battle is not about Black people against White people, or civilians against police; it’s about good people against bad people.
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In an incident in Portland, Oregon, "a Portland police officer noticed a 12-year-old boy holding a sign that read 'Free Hugs' during a Ferguson demonstration. The officer started talking to the boy about the demonstration, school, and life. When they were done talking, the officer asked if he was going to get a hug.
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"The boy teared up — and obliged."
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Chances are, that one encounter will color that young boy's attitude toward the police for the rest of his life. And I'm sure that if that officer is ever in an encounter with a young Black man, he'll think about that young kid before he pulls the trigger. So what we're talking about here is not one side against the other, but EVERYBODY dealing with our fellow human beings with a sense of humanity.
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But currently, the domestic enemy of the United States is appealing to America's emotions in order to circumvent our common sense. They're purposely instigating hatred, frustration, and division in order to promote their own single-minded agenda of power and greed. That agenda is destroying America, so if we intend to maintain the kind of life we've become accustomed to, we've got to appeal to America's emotions as well, but with knowledge, wisdom, and a sense of humanity. We can never out-scream fanatics, so we've got to out-think them, by reminding Americans of what we profess to believe in.
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One of my first memories in life was of the police coming to my house in the middle of the night, shooting my dog. and dragging my father off to the pen. When I was 19 years old I was busted at 3 a.m. in the morning with a briefcase full of drugs (and I mean HARD drugs) - and that was after a prolific juvenile career of going in and out of institutions from the time I was 12 years old (I was a precocious child). Now they finally had me as an adult, so there was absolutely no doubt in my mine that nothing was gonna beat me to the joint but the headlights on the bus.
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Then at my sentencing hearing, up pops this cop, Sgt. Foster, who wasn't even involved in the case - it wasn't even in his jurisdiction - but he was the first cop who arrested me when I was 12, and he harassed me throughout my juvenile career. Me and Foster had some kind of relationship. I saw him as the quintessential racist. He looked like he stepped right off a movie lot - a big, cigar chompin’ brute who used to always try to embarrass in front of the fellas. If I was suspected of something, he wouldn’t even bother to come looking for me. He’d just go up on the block and tell the fellas, "You tell Eric I want him in my office at 8 o’clock sharp tomorrow morning - and tell ‘em if I have to burn up one drop of gas looking for him, I gonna stick my foot in his ass."
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The fellas just loved that. "Man, Foster just came by here lookin’ for you, and he said you better arrest yourself and report to jail by 8 o’clock in the morning or he’s gonna kick your natural ass." Then everybody would fall out laughing and making jokes at my expense. When I was 16 he caught me high on drugs and embarrassed and manhandled me so bad that I got in a tussle with and reached for his gun - I would have been dead if that would have happened today. But he just busted me in the head with his club and subdued me. But instead of taking me to jail, he took me home and told my mother and stepfather what took place - "You better take him and have that head looked after" (I had to get several stitches in my head; I still feel the wound every time I comb my hair). But he was right back on my ass the next day: "Hey, E. You better get outta here. Here comes Foster to get him some mo ass. Ha, ha, ha!"
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So when I saw Foster in court, I assumed that he came to gloat, because he had warned me at 16 that if I didn't change my ways that I was gonna end up in San Quentin, or dead. So again, I assumed he'd made that special trip across town to wave bye bye.
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But when they called my case up, and I stood up to see how many years I was gonna get, the judge put the court in recess and they took me back to his chambers, and in walks Foster. He told the judge that I wasn't really a criminal, I was just stupid. I didn't like the idea of being called stupid, and protested, but Foster told me to shut up.
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He then went on to convince the judge to give me an option f going into the military, and if I came out with an honorable discharge, the adult charges would be dropped against me and my juvenile record would be expunged, which the judge did.
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But they changed my life. If it hadn't been for that one act, I wouldn't be capable of writing this, and neither my daughter nor son - or any of my grandchildren would be here - because I would have been in prison during the time they conceived. I often wonder what my life would have been like then. I shudder to even think about it.
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But Foster did twist the knife a little bit. I thought they were talking about the Army, but they made SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS with the Marine Corps to accept me - in spite of the fact that I was a high school dropout with an extensive juvenile record - to this day I don't know how they did that. But before the bus stopped rolling at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, the biggest, ugliest DI they had was jumped on the bus screaming my name, and within two days, I was fantasizing about how nice it would have been to be quietly relaxing in prison.
.

One Generation Later, Here’s What the United States Air Force Had To Say About My Son

2. Eric continues to lead a stellar military career; his enlisted performance reports speak for themselves. His leadership and experience, especially in contingency environments, remains a vital asset to our unit and wing. As one of my primary Phoenix Raven team leaders, he’s propelled to the forefront of all major deployments throughout the world. He’s repeatedly secured aircraft and crews, supporting a wide variety of missions, in the most austere and terrorist-ridden environments where security is severely inadequate. The diversity of these missions never limited SSgt Wattree’s capacity to adapt to each situation. For this reason, Eric was selected as our 2000 Outstanding Phoenix Raven Member of the Year and the 2001 Air Force Reserve Component Airman of the Year for the 92d Security Forces Squadron.

3. Whether operating under peacetime or contingency operations, Eric easily assumes control and tackles every situation with meticulous tenacity, a quality highly desired in our Air Force officers. Requested BY NAME, Sergeant Wattree, provided security for presidential Banner missions throughout Greece, Peru and Viet Nam. While deployed to Afghanistan, he flew numerous combat missions in our nation’s pursuit to eradicate terrorism through Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Additionally, he provided round-the-clock force protection for aircraft in other high-threat environments including Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Oman.

4. Sergeant Wattree motivated his personnel during the worst conditions and raised the level of esprit de corps to integrate personnel from other Air Force specialties into a cohesive team. His leadership, integrity and devotion to our Air Force play an integral part in our future leadership. Eric has what it takes to become a commissioned officer and earns my full support to attend Officer Training School.

FRANK HELLSTERN, JR., Captain, USAF
Operations Officer
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Today Eric is a Special Agent for the U.S. Department of Justice. I only wish Sgt. Foster (later, Capt. Foster) was still around to see it, because when I finished college he tried to recruit me into the LAPD - "You’re just the kind of person we need." I was seriously considering it, but my wife wasn’t having it at the time, but look what she ended up with for a son - Buck Rogers. There’s much irony in life.

Eric L. Wattree, Jr.

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HOWLING WINDS
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As I watched my son, dapper as they come, walk down our walkway and into manhood,

what I remember most was the howling winds.
I'd seen such winds before, but never like this - my old foe was pulling up trees by the roots,

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So I watched,
but I watched alone.

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As the winds raged on and the mighty palms bowed, a single leaf from our Winter-bare ficus tree

held tough against the ferocious storm.
It fought valiantly against the angry gale, as though hanging tough Just to witness the changing of the guard,

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So I stood,
but I stood alone.

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Like that solitary leaf, all my life I've fought the ferocious winds,
and now they’ve returned, this mighty foe,
poised to seize the hopes and dreams of my only son,

.

So I cringed,
but I cringed alone.

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Then, posterity glanced back, squared its shoulders, and beat back hopelessness as it

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Don’t You Worry, Baby. You’ll Eat TONIGHT, Because Help Is On The Way!!!.
As we speak I bet WalMart is shakin’ in their boots, because Tavis (Poverty Tour) Smiley, and Cornel ("I come to go to jail!") West is on their way to read WalMart the RIOT ACT this year!!!
*
What? They didn’t show!!!? AGAIN!!!? For the THIRD year in a row, and they didn’t even send a postcard of support!!!?
*
WELL, I GUESS THAT JUST ABOUT SAYS IT ALL ABOUT THOSE TWO.

It’s like my mother used to say - "Pay no attention to what people SAY, just watch what they DO."
*THOSE TWO BEING SPONSORED BY WALMART IS LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING BEING SPONSORED BY THE KLAN.

_________________________________________________________

POVERTY PIMPS AND BLACK SUFFERING

The reason that I ride Tavis Smiley and Cornel West so relentlessly is because they are the quintessential poverty pimps. As shown above, they're not interested in the plight of the poor at all; they simply USE the poor to feather their own nests. The fact is, the more misery that the poor are forced to endure, the more notoriety and money they make selling books, holding seminars, and doing $30,000 an hour speaking engagements.So people like Smiley and West are not an asset to the poor and minority community, they're an affliction upon it..Many Black people have bought into a philosophy that was introduced into our thinking by poverty pimps in the sixties. They’ve convinced many Black people that we are impotent and can't do anything for ourselves. I know many people who suffer from that malady. Poverty Pimps introduced that into our thinking so we would feel that we needed to hire them to the very lucrative job of Black Ambassador to the ‘White Man’ (the White establishment). That's been big business every since Martin and Malcolm died.
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What we need to recognize as Black people is that we don’t need one voice speaking for millions, we need millions speaking with one voice; and we don’t need one brain thinking for millions, we need millions of brains thinking in concert. Black people also need to RE-LEARN that the only thing we need from the White man is for him to stay the hell out of our way.
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Yes, we want our piece of America's pie, but whinin' ain't the way to get it. The only way that we're EVER going to obtain justice, dignity, and all of the other things that we are due in this world, is to become strong enough to demand it, and competent enough to hold on to it. The Black community will NEVER be fully viable, until we embrace that clear and simple reality.
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So we need to stop talking about what we CAN'T do, and start thinking about what we CAN do - and we can do any damn thing we decide upon.

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A MESSAGE TO TAVIS SMILEY, CORNEL WEST AND THE VARIOUS OTHER ‘WILLIE LYNCHERS’

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Black People Don’t Resent Criticism of Obama, But We do Resent Slander - Which is What These People Engage In, To The Direct Benefit of the GOP, The Biggest Enemy In The World To the Poor and Minority Community

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Cornel West spews more racist rhetoric than any Republican in America. The reason for that is he’s essentially an entertainer who specializes in shock and race-baiting as his one and only routine. Clear evidence of that is he's over the top in everything that defines him - he's over the top in his personal image, in his overly gesticulative presentation, and his rhetoric is invariably inflammatory. Everything about him is a contrivance that’s specifically designed to bring attention to himself. The actual issues are meaningless to him. They're nothing more than a platform to launch his performance. In short, Cornel West is the Liberace of faux intellectualism.

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Have you ever noticed that nearly every public pronouncement that spews from the mouth of Cornel West is literally dripping with racial innuendo? One of his latest racist slanders is that MSNBC is the ‘Rent a Negro’ network. West has said at various times the following:

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1). President Obama is "a war criminal."

2). President Obama is "ablack mascot of Wall Street oligarchs . . ."

3). President Obama is "a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."

4). President Obama is "a Rockefeller Republican in Blackface."

5). President Obama "has a certain rootlessness, a deracination."

6). President Obama Is "Afraid Of Free Black Men."

7). President Obama is "a global George Zimmerman."

8). Dr. Harris-Perry is "a fake and a fraud"

9). Dr. Michael Eric Dyson "is a sellout."

10). Al Sharpton "is a sellout."

11). MSNBC is the "Rent a Negro Network."
12). And if that’s not enough, now he’s quoted as calling the first Black President of the United States “a shell of a man.”

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Yet, when comedian Steve Harvey called him an Uncle Tom, he said, "When you are trying to talk about issues that affect the people, name calling gets in the way. Name-calling is nothing but another weapon of mass distraction."

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So name-calling is only objectionable when it’s directed at him. Such unmitigated hypocrisy is mind boggling - but for once, he’s right. Not one of the above assertions is a disciplined, constructive, or scholarly assessment of the facts. On the contrary, they're the reckless and intellectually undisciplined rants of a bitter, self-serving, and severely discredited academic fraud.

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For Cornel West, there’s something ‘racially defective’ about every Black person who has the audacity to preempt Cornel West from the limelight. West has a propensity for trying to denigrate the character of people whose been in the trenches for years, while West, himself, has done absolutely nothing beyond running his mouth. In order to gain clear evidence of that fact one simply has to ask oneself, what efforts have West made to try to improve the plight of the Black community?
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1). Is he in the community teaching 3rd grade to help ensure a better education for our children, or teaching at an Historically Black College or University to help "enlighten" young Black students?

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No. He’s never taught at a school that more than 1% of Black students can even afford to have lunch in throughout his entire career. He’d rather gain props for teaching the children of the economic elites, who he CLAIMS, is the enemy, whenever he MANAGES to do a

"Drive-by" in the hood.

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2). Is he in the community teaching our young men to cherish, honor, and respect our Black women - the very womb of our culture?

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No. He’s out trying to sell books filled with inane and misleading information, doing $30,000 an hour speeches, and trying to become a hip hop star.

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3). Is he advising his good friend and business partner, Tavis Smiley, to be consistent with his sermons by being "accountable" to the community, and returning the money that he made on the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Scam" loans that he helped to herd over 30,000 poor minorities into? Or is he out getting arrested in support of the Black Friday Demonstrations against Wal-Mart, the most prolific abuser of poor workers in the world?
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Nope, not a peep.

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The same is true of West's former puppeteer, Tavis Smiley. He can go all over the country in a bus criticizing President Obama in his Wal-Mart sponsored "Poverty Tour," and find the time to go "Dance With The Stars," but couldn't spare even a second of his time to walk down the street from his office to support the demonstration by Wal-Mart employees?

So what West, Smiley, and their ilk actually see coming from the community regarding their criticism of President Obama is Black outrage over their indulging in the crabs-in-a-barrel tradition that was inbred in us as slaves. Black people recognize that many of President Obama’s Black critics, including Cornel West, aren’t really interested in policy; they’re just using public policy as a pretext for attacking the President himself, and they’re so steeped in their Willie Lynch mentality that they either don’t realize, or don’t care that they’re doing a grave disservice not only to the African-American community, but to Black people all over the world.

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Because the fact is, many of Obama’s White conservative critics aren’t really interested in policy either. Like Obama’s Black critics, they have an ulterior motive as well, but their motive has nothing to do with crabs-in-a-barrel. Their primary motive is defending their claim of White superiority, and President Obama, in his soft-spoken, laid-back way, is dragging that claim through the mud. That’s why racists and conservatives hate him so.

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Conservatives recognize, as we all should - and especially Black people - that President Obama is not just another president. President Obama is the most high-profile symbol of Black competence in the world. In addition, what he has accomplished is the perfect equivalent of a conquered slave rising to become the emperor of Rome - and, one of its greatest emperors. So Barack Obama is going to be remembered by posterity as one of the greatest men in ALL of human history, and his story will be inspiring Black children a thousand years from now.

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Racists and conservatives recognize that fact, so naturally, they’re desperate to tear down Barack Obama’s image, and build up the image of criminals like Ronald Wilson Reagan, and there is no excuse for Black idiots like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins not to recognize that fact. That’s what makes them so detestable. Instead of trying to help racists tear down this Black icon, they should be offering RESPECTFUL suggestions in an attempt to ensure that Barack Obama is remembered as one of the greatest Presidents that this nation has ever had, even if they have to drag him up Mt. Rushmore kicking and screaming. But instead, they’re allowing themselves to be pointed to by racists who are claiming, "See, even Black people know he doesn’t live up to the standard of White presidents."

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Thus, people like Smiley and West are giving their own egos, self-service, and their Willie Lynch-inspired need to tear-down a Black historic icon priority over Black history, and the role that history is going to play in helping to raise the self-concept of the Black culture. In short, they’re trying to sabotage the self-esteem of Black children who are yet unborn. The mere thought of that kind of ignorant selfishness is absolutely disgusting - and especially when clothed in faux scholarship.

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So Cornel West and the others like him are not Black leaders, they’re clueless Black cultural afflictions, and if I wanted to take even more time (maybe I'll do it in a book), I could methodically take apart every argument that they've put forward against President Obama. But the short version is, there are some things we have to do for ourselves - and with good reason.

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As alleged "educated" men, they should all realize that Obama is merely President Obama, not King Obama. The United States Constitution is very specific in giving SOLE power over spending to the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans (that’s why they could refuse to pay the light bill and shutdown the government). So President Obama can’t do a damn thing for us without getting the Republicans to go along with him. That’s why he has to slip us everything on the down-low, because if the GOP know it’s for us, they’re going to dig-in, and if Obama goes to war against them over the issue, they're not going to allow him to do anything for ANYBODY. And as President of ALL the people, he can't allow that to happen, so he has to wrap Black interests in the interest of ALL the people.
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FORMER OBAMA CRITIC AND NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST

In addition, as a thinking man (unlike many of you), Obama realizes that he has to think about precedents. If he grandstands like many of you suggest and say, "This is what I'm going to do for Black people," what are you going to do when the next White president says, "This is what I'm going to do for White people?" And he'll justify it by calling it "The Obama Doctrine."

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So Cornel West, Tavis Smiley - and also you others who share their backward-thinking proclivities - you need to use some of that alleged brain power to think, instead of burning it up trying to maintain your image, or attempting to hide your true motivations for attacking this President. I didn’t hear you saying a damn thing when Bush was in office. So you can try to clothe your true motivations in a tux, but it still has the funky smell of Willie Lynch all over it.

Society Of Professional Journalists

Eric L. Wattree

Strive To Become Your Own Hero... Then Let No One Remove Your Cape.

BIO

Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet, and musician, born in Los Angeles. He’s been a columnist for The Los Angeles Sentinel, Black Star News, The Atlanta Post, and is a member of the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists (http://www.spj.org/). He’s also the author of "A Message From the Hood."Some of the greatest minds I’ve ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I’ve ever known roamed the halls of academia in pursuit of credentials over knowledge.Eric L. Wattreehttp://www.whohub.com/wattree

OBAMA ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Obama's Contrubution To America

My Political Persuasion

"YOUR BROTHER, IS THE MAN WHO THINKS LIKE YOU" - UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS.

WHAT A MAN THINKS, IS WHO HE IS. THINK LIKE A MARINE - STRONG, RESOLUTE, AND WITH HONOR.

GOP CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET?

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The Hater

Am I a hater, you ask? You're damn right I'm a hater. I hate injustice. I hate hypocrisy. I also hate demagoguery, apathy, and the stupidity that allows it to exist. Hater? Absolutely. I'm a big time hater. I hate what I see happening to this country, and I hate watching the development of a culture that embraces ignorance with a stupid sense of pride. So yes, I am indeed a hater, but not only that - I'm a hater with a very low threshold for bullshit, so step off.